I Brought a Very Old Book to a Very Important Breakfast
Picture a ballroom full of leaders, coffee in hand, waiting for the opening remarks.
And I walk up holding a Girl Scout handbook from decades ago.
Not a slide deck. Not a stat. A worn, treasured little book.
Last Friday, Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay hosted its first State of the Girl Breakfast. We previewed a report we commissioned on the lives of girls across Delmarva: Delaware, plus parts of Maryland and Virginia on the Eastern Shore.
As Board Chair, I had the opening. I wanted the room to feel three things at once: where we’ve been, where she is right now, and where we go next.
The Past: What That Handbook Still Says
Flip through those yellowed pages and you’ll find what we still stand for today.
Courage
Confidence
Character
The fonts have changed. The mission hasn’t. That handbook is the legacy we’re building on.
The Present: Where Girls Are Today
The report is the present tense. And it’s honest.
She’s leading in the classroom
92% of Delaware girls in the class of 2025 graduated high school. Girls here are achieving, and it shows.
The emotional weight is real
Modern girlhood carries an emotional toll. Girls face some of those challenges at higher rates than boys.
The finding that stopped me cold: high-performing girls often mask anxiety as perfection.
I read that and thought about every high-performing woman I know. Including the one in the mirror.
We don’t grow out of that habit. We get better at hiding it.
And she’s remarkably self-aware
Here’s the hopeful part. This generation has the language. She can name anxiety when she feels it, and she advocates for herself in ways many of us never learned to at her age.
I love that for her.
What Girl Scouts Delivers by Design
The report points to three things that help. Girl Scouts was built around all three.
Belonging. A peer group that welcomes her without conditions.
Experiences. Moments that show her what’s possible before she knew to want it.
Caring adults. Trusted mentors who show up, care, and cheer her on.
One line from the morning has stayed with me all week:
“The antidote to a loneliness epidemic isn’t a single program. It’s a room full of girls who agree, in advance, to make each other feel welcome.”
Agree in advance. That’s the whole strategy.
The Future: This Was Never About One Morning
Breakfast ended. The work didn’t.
The room was full of women representing organizations from across the region, and every one of them left with the same question I’ll leave you with: what in this report stays with you, and what will you do about it?
You can show up four ways:
Join
Volunteer
Collaborate
Donate
Start with Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay.
There isn’t a public link to the report yet. If you’d like a printed copy, message me and we’ll get one to you.
Want to bring this kind of conversation to your board or event? See my speaking page.
Your Turn
Think back to the girl you were. Who was the caring adult who made you believe the room was yours?
Tell me in the comments. And then go be that person for someone else.
ABOUT TEMEKA EASTER RICE
Temeka Easter Rice is a brand executive, marketing keynote speaker, and storytelling strategist who helps brands stop sounding like corporate brochures and start sounding human. Her superpower? Authenticity: the kind that converts passive audiences into fiercely loyal fans, even in heavily regulated industries.
She built social media from scratch into a 40-person enterprise capability, proving that governance isn't the brake pedal. It's the high-performance engine that lets a brand move fast without crashing.
Whether addressing executive panels, conference stages, or board retreats, she delivers field-tested frameworks on brand strategy, crisis communications, and nonprofit board governance. Your audience walks away with high-impact strategies they can execute Monday morning.
Planning a conference, panel, or board retreat? Don't settle for another skippable keynote.
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